On the way home...

If we holiday at the beach DH and I always have at least one takeaway fish and chip meal and this short break was no exception. We had decided to self cater on this break with one night off from cooking. So on Friday night, we stopped at our favourite Fish and chip shop in Maroochydore to buy our dinner. 

Back at the unit, I made a salad and DH served up the fish, chips and potato scallops. When we were children, potato scallops were an easily affordable treat from the local F and C shop. DH always buys a few of these scallops just for old times sake! lol

Our traditional fish and chip meal while holidaying at the beach

The next morning we breakfasted on the half of homemade quiche that was left over from another night. 

The last breakfast on the balcony with the beautiful views...

Then we packed up the car, handed in the unit keys and headed off home...but not directly ...we had planned a few stops...

First stop was a walk down Maple St in Maleny...

I'd heard about the Rosetta Bookstore from Jean over at Allotment Adventures with Jean. It sounded too good to miss; and I wasn't disappointed. They had a lovely range of books and the coffee was excellent! 

There were lots of families in the shop, a discussion group in one section and a delightful children's area at the back of the shop. 

The barista was kept busy that morning...

 And look at what I ended up buying in the bookstore...

The bag of books...

 Two picture books for the great nieces...

 And a book that I was shown by an Advisory Teacher about 5 years ago but had never been able to find a copy...

It is a picture book which explains the behaviours of those identified as ASD in a delightfully sensitive way...

 One of the pages has a cat who looks just like Eduardo...just like a child with ASD, Eduardo does not like to be cuddled which is sad for me!

Continuing our walk up the main street of Maleny, we saw these magnificent doors on the new Community Hall.

The door just draw you towards them and I just wanted to reach out and stroke them...

 A few more metres and I saw the sign for the little quilt shop, Quiltopia. I have often bought items from the online store and this was my first visit to the store. Here is Ann the owner, who kindly allowed me to browse even though the shop wasn't opening for another 20 minutes.

 Ann and I had a lovely chat. She is an ex teacher and had taught in a number of places including overseas. We both had also trained as ESL teachers (English as a second language) even though I remained a classroom teacher not a visiting advisory teacher.

The store is tiny but well stocked...

Oh and I didn't leave there empty handed either... :-)

Then it was back in the car and back along the Maleny Montville Rd to Geordie Lane Antiques and Tea Room. I just took photos outside but the items inside were beautiful and such a lot of lovely items for sale. The website has some photos here. There is also a Facebook page which has even more photos of some of the delightful items in the shop.

old farm equipment

The old farmhouse that the business is run in

 Then it was time to get back on the road again. Just a short drive to Maleny Magic...another quilt shop!
I forget to take a photo here but the lady in the shop was so lovely and helpful to all the customers in the shop. And this is what I bought there...

The lady in the shop gave me 30cm of the striped fabric for free as she said it would make a great contrast with the 'coffee' panel, especially for binding. How nice was that? 

 This pattern was part of a kit which used Asian prints. I could see the possibilities using Christmas fabrics, so I asked if I could just buy the pattern...which I was able to do.

Finally we headed for home...as we neared this landmark in Beerburrum, we remembered that we needed some fruit and vegetables. I remember the Vecchios shop being there when I was a child.

When we were at the register with our tomatoes, mangos, and bananas, I noticed this lovely item on the counter...sadly he wasn't for sale but he did like his ears being tickled.

From there it wasn't long before we were back home in suburban Brisbane.

When this post is published I should be at the Mater having my operation that was postponed 2 weeks ago. Fingers crossed that my doctor has no emergency this time and can devote her attention to #2 on her list...me! lol